The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-05-29
THE USE OF COCA.
Consul Du Pre- Tells of Its Effects Upon the
Natives of South America.

Consul Du Pre- Tells o Its Effects Upon the
Natives of South America.
Consul Du Pre- transmits from San Salvador
an interesting rapport upon the use of coca in that
country and its effects upon the inhabitants de
says:
III have seen SO much recently written Of coca
in newspapers and in medical publications that
l am impeled to report what / have learned OF
the virtues of this product of South American
forests. With leathern straps passing around
their foreheads to sustain burdens of $50 or 200
pounds their backs, find these 1.-the. slender
natives traversing plains and mountains with
greater CELEBRITY than the mule bestrlde. which
travels through the livelong day six miles an
hour. Native physicians. cloves of the schools
of Paris concur in assuring that this extra
ordinary capacity for endurance of toll and hun
ger is to be ascribed the use by these viageros
of coca
It is administered freely to infants. and is the
chief intoXicant of men and women. Youths
through many days are intrusted with the care
of valuable focks of llamas, having no other sus-
tenance than Ihat to be found in little leathern
purses containing coca and its compounds In
dians chew it constantly. Theirs. like the max
Hilary movements of tobacco chewers are lnces-
SAINT From thirty TO fifty gramas are consumed
daily, serving. unlike tobacco. both as food and
stimulans Without habitual chewers can
not digest food; without it they unable to
ascend mountains, with long rapid strides
never Stacking their wonderful speed through
the livelong day. They will not toll without it;
without it they enjoy nothing; without it, prac-
tically, they cease to live. The immediate effect
of chewing coca is perfect insensibility of the in
is that which one would experience when finding
that his mouth had become a great void in some
body elses head. I had dentist apply it when
extracting the of molar TOOTH and
the effect was as described. Indians constantly
using coca finally loose the senses Of taste
and smell. They can eat, without repugnance
the most disgusting food and drink most nause-
. ating drauehts. The sensitiveness of the mucous
membrane has been destroyed. When one goes
further and swallows the saliva impregnated
with the juice of the coca leaf, delicious sensa
ton of warmth and Qerfact blessedness Deryad0a
ones whole being, intellectual, nervous and
physical. and he is tapped in the joys Of an ely
SUM.
In doses of fifteen to sixty grains coca pro-
duces delightful intoxication. Its joys transcend
in perfect biessedness ell known human delights
A sensation of lightness first supervenes; the air
inhaled is zephyrs from angels WINGS there
wild imaRinings, and fantastic hallucinations,
and gorgeous visions and then complete insensi-
without congestion of the brain, involving a
sense of perfect rest. The law of gravtation is
suspended and the coquero drifts bodily among
the stars Meanwhile the muscular system is
stimulated to an extraordinary degree. An in
tellectual excitement supervenes, enabling the
possessed of this demon to watch and toll
through slespless days and nights. No dreadful
headache. or more intoleraSis nervous prostra
ton, follows
1T is the most potent nervine, almost at
mans disposal Its hygienic properties are dis
closed from its physiological properties" says
Spanish NJ. D., who adds that in hot infusion it
is the one useful and healthful beverage one can
use after olnlng Especially Is IL commenced TO
the feeble. to those who have transcribed tho
limits of sobriety in using alcohol. Its virtues
should be tested, therefore, in inebriate asyums.
1t surely calms nervous excitability of many,
and. taken in small quantities, enables one to
endure cold, and rain. and snow. and it enables
one TO defy great fatigue and restores the forces
lost by excuses. 1. is popularity used for iudi-
gestion, for disordered stomachs, for hysteria,
hatulency and collie, and for all forms of intes-
final disorders. 1t is used constantly by toers
in mines, and when one reaches the mines after
marching several days through forests and over
mountains, sustained alone by the of coca
and maize, he is permitted to eat at discretion
through four days and have perfect req Then
he is in perfect health and 'fresh and fat" says
the writer above quoted
Cocaismo-habitual intoxication by use of CO.
ca-more easily becomes habitual and incurable
than alcoholism addictiveness to opiates. Its
consequences, however, are not yet wholly meas
ured or comprehended Excessive and constant
use of this intoxicant begets rapidly moral and
intellectual degradation and decay; steady de-
cline is interrupted at intervals by rssistless i'm
pulses to do most violent and brutal acts. The
nature of the father perverted By the drug,
is transmitted to the child, and the inveterats
vice, operating through generations, is said to
account for the brutality of races Of Indians,
the Quichas and Almaras OF Bolivian Businesses.